(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 Hey everybody! Welcome to Church Foundation Baptist Church! if you could find your seats and grab your blue song books and turn to page number 271. We're gonna be singing, Oh Come All Ye Faithful. Welcome to Shure Foundation Baptist Church. If you could find your seats and grab your song books and turn to page 271. We're gonna be singing, Oh Come All Ye Faithful. Song 271 in your blue hymn book. Song 271. Let's sing it together on the first. Oh come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. Oh come ye, oh come ye to Bethlehem. Come and behold Him, born the King of Angels. Oh come let us adore Him. Oh come let us adore Him. Oh come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. Last time we're gonna sing this song until next year, so I gotta hear you sing it out on the second. It's on the second. Sing choirs of angels, sing in exultation. Oh sing all ye bright hosts of heaven above. Glory to God all, glory in the highest. Oh come let us adore Him. Oh come let us adore Him. Oh come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. Yay Lord we greet Thee, born this happy morning. Jesus to Thee be all glory given. Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing. Oh come let us adore Him. Oh come let us adore Him. Oh come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. Amen. Good singing brother Ramon. Could you open up with a word of prayer? Amen. Our second song will be song 286, Go Tell It on the Mountain. Song 286 in your blue hymn books, Go Tell It on the Mountain. Song 286, let's sing it together on that first. Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born. While shepherds kept their watching, or silent flocks by night. Behold throughout the heavens, there shone a holy light. Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born. The shepherds feared and trembled, when low above the earth, rang out the angel's chorus, that hailed the Savior's birth. Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born. Down in a lowly manger, the humble Christ was born, and God sent us salvation, that blessed Christmas morn. Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born. Good singing. This time we'll have our announcements. Good morning everybody. Welcome to Church Foundation Baptist Church. Let's take our bulletin to go through the announcements. If you need a bulletin, just lift up your hand. One of the ushers will bring you a bulletin. Anybody need one? There's a hand right over there. All right. On the front cover we have the verse of the week. It says, Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before. Philippians chapter 3 verse 13. Good preemptive New Year scripture there for you, and on our inside page there we have our service times. Sunday morning 10 30 a.m. Sunday evening service 3 30 p.m. Thursday bible study 6 30 p.m. and we are studying right now the book of first chronicles. We'll be back in chapter 18 after this next coming week, but we're having some different schedules which I'll go over here in just a second. You can check out our pages on YouTube, Facebook, rumble, and I don't know about x anymore. I think that x is kind of down right now, but our bible way to heaven. We have a little qr code right there that you could scan. You could actually probably take a picture of that and share it anywhere you want, but it basically has the bible way to heaven in any language. If you scan it, it's tailored to our church, so that's a good resource for you. Our praise report, you see the salvations and baptisms and attendance from last week there, and we have a lot of people out sick in case you didn't notice. There's kind of some gaps in the room here, but let's remember to pray for, we have a lot of families out like I said, and so pray for them to feel better, and I'm glad they're not here because from what I've been told it's a pretty nasty one. So anyway, tonight we have a men's preaching night for the evening service. Normally I would do that on New Year's Eve, but this is the fifth Sunday, so normally I also do a men's preaching on the fifth Sunday. So I decided to just do that tonight, and I will do the state of the union address on Tuesday that I normally do on the last Sunday of the year, and this morning I just chose to do like a more of a motivational sermon for us going into the new year, so that is what I'll be preaching this morning. And let's see, December 31st is Tuesday, so we're going to have a New Year's Eve service, which replaces the Thursday normal service that we have. So our midweek service is being changed to the Tuesday evening New Year's service, and you may come early to the building if you want. If you want to play games, you can bring your games and then bring snacks of course. We're Baptist, so if we're not eating, we're not meeting. That's kind of the Baptist motto there, which is sad sometimes. But anyway, come early, like I said, if you want, and stay late if you want. We're going to pray the new year about nine o'clock at night, but there will be a normal service. So there will be a normal preaching service at 6 30 p.m., just like we would always do in the midweek. So and then, yeah, we'll just have a good time doing what sober people do on, you know, while everybody else is getting drunk. So hopefully everybody's safe getting here and getting home. We'll definitely pray for that also. So be careful coming in and leaving that night. So anyway, January 1st starts our New Testament challenge where we challenge everybody to read the New Testament in 30 days. We will have these sheets that you can use to check mark all your days. It's basically reading nine chapters a day, and it takes 30 days to do that. There's a couple grace period days there, and when you get past the Gospels, it's pretty much smooth, easy reading after that, for the most part, like I said. And the chapters get shorter, the chapters get easier to read, but when you get into Luke, it's like, it's, I mean, it's great reading, but when you're trying to read nine chapters, it gets pretty tough. So, and Mark also has some really long chapters, you know, Matthew, John, yeah. There's some long chapters in the Gospels, but of course the Gospels are great to read, but there's other ones that you want to mix them up. You can probably just find some stuff online that might mix it up where you're doing Matthew, you know, some chapters of Matthew, some chapters in, you know, Corinthians or whatever. There's all kinds of different ones you can use. You don't have to use the ones that we have. You just have to finish it in 30 days. There'll be a special prize for everybody that does that, and then you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that you read the, first of all, you finished the challenge. You don't even have to have hot sauce or any hot wings or anything like that. You don't have to eat, like, a 72-ounce steak in one sitting. You don't have to, like, eat this ginormous burger, you know, and get sick from it. You just have to read the Bible, which is God's Word, that's sweeter than honey and the honeycomb, amen. And you'll learn something, and you'll feel a sense of accomplishment, and then you can move on and read the rest of the Bible for the rest of the year. So anyway, that's the New Testament challenge. Starts the next day of course, the first of the year. So don't cheat and start early, or it doesn't count, all right? No cheating. So, and then let's see, we got February 1st and 2nd. I'll be in Indianapolis for the one-year anniversary, and if you're not able to go or be there, then maybe just support and pray for the one-year anniversary that they'd have a lot of people show up for the service. When we first started the church, we had 89 people in the first service. There was one or two seats, I think, left over for the whole thing when you guys were there, weren't you? Yeah, the first service. I think so, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So it's already been a year almost, so by February, so February 2nd, we're having a big anniversary there. We're having soloing on Saturday. Lunch will be provided after that at no cost to you, and we're renting the bowling alley out for three hours, and so everybody can show off and showcase their skills at bowling, and bowling is a game of skill. You think you just roll the ball down and you're going to get strikes every time? It's not going to happen, so you might want to practice up or whatever if you're going to plan on going, but yeah, then I'll be preaching the next day, and so hopefully it won't be a blizzard or something like that in Indianapolis, but one year anniversary. Brother Justin's been doing a great job there, and so our church is running about 50 there right now. We've knocked 50 once or twice, and we're just right at the edge of that all the time, so we're close to 50. It's a Baptist 50, 48, 49, but it has knocked over 50, so then sometimes it's just about to get there, and then somebody has car trouble or something. It's one of those things, the devil's just trying to hold us back. But anyway, let's see, so the 15th and 16th of February, we're going to have our annual Sweetheart Banquet. Pastor Jim Weeb is going to be preaching for the Sweetheart Banquet this year, so he'll preach a sermon. We'll have a theme. I haven't got the theme yet. We've done all kinds of different themes that are pretty fun and interesting, and we'll have the food themed after whatever that theme is. It's usually a culture of some sort, and we'll figure something out. If anybody has a good idea, let me know. We usually decorate the place for whatever that is, and then Pastor Weeb's going to preach for us on one of the services on Sunday. So looking forward to that. May we have the King James Conference here again, and we have a bunch of guest speakers coming. So if you're online, RSVP or email the church. A detailed schedule is on our community page on YouTube, and I'll probably have one printed out if you need to get one. And of course, we're a family integrated church. That means children and infants are welcome during the church services. Please use the mother baby rooms for your convenience. Dad baby room also in the back corner there. Tithes and offerings that have come in so far for the month of December on the bottom of the page there, and on the back page we have the birthdays and anniversaries. And Evan Ritchie's, I don't know how old he's going to be on the first, but Molly is going to be, I'm not even going to, 33? Oh, all right. I was going to say 29, but I didn't know if you're even 29 yet, so I don't want to say that like, you think I'm that old? So let's go ahead and sing Happy Birthday to Miss Molly this morning. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday. That's all I have for announcements. Let's go ahead and sing another song, and then we'll receive the offering. All right, our next song is song number 294, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. Song number 294 in your blue hymn books, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. Song 294, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. Let's sing it together on the first. God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay. Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas day to save us all from Satan's power when we were gone astray. Oh tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy. Oh tidings of comfort and joy. Oh from God our heavenly Father a blessed angel came and unto certain shepherds brought tidings of the same. How that in Bethlehem was born the Son of God by name. Oh tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy. Oh tidings of comfort and joy on the third fear not then said the angel let nothing you afraid. This day is born a savior of a pure virgin bride to free all those who trust in him from Satan's power and might. Oh tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy. Oh tidings of comfort and joy on the last. Now to the Lord sing praises all you within this place and with true love and brotherhood each other now embrace this holy tide of Christmas all others doth deface. Oh tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy. Oh tidings of comfort and joy. Amen. Good singing brother Jesse would you bless the offering for us. So so so so Turn in your Bibles to John chapter 14. John chapter 14. If you do not have a Bible there should be one in the seat in front of you. As is our custom we will read the entire chapter so please follow along silently. John chapter 14 the Bible reads, Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions, if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord we know not whither thou goest and how can we know the way. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father but by me. If he had known me he should have known my father also and from henceforth ye know him and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord show us the father and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you and you has thou and you hast thou not known me Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the father and how sayest thou then show us the father. Believest thou not that I am in the father and the father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself but the father that dwelleth in me he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the father and the father in me or else believe me for the very work's sake. Verily verily I say unto you he that believeth on me the works that I do shall he do also and greater works than these shall he do because I go unto unto my father and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do and the father that the father may be glorified in the son. If he shall ask anything in my name I will do it. If you love me keep my commandments and I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you yet a little while and the world seeth me no more but ye see me because I live ye shall live also at that day ye shall know that I am in my father and ye in me and I in you he that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him not Iscariot Lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him if a man love me he will keep my words and my father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings and the word which he hear is not mine but the father's which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you being yet present with you but the comforter which is the holy ghost whom the father will send in my name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid you have heard how I said unto you I go away and come again unto you if you love me ye would rejoice because I said I go into the father for my father is greater than I and now I have told you before it come to pass that when it is come to pass ye might believe. Hereafter I will not talk much with you for the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me but that the world may know that I love the father and as the father gave me commandment even so I do. Arise let us go hence. Father Alex will you pray for the service amen. All right the title of the sermon this morning is the 2025 Double Down New Year Challenge. The 2025 Double Down New Year Challenge so quite the mouthful there isn't it but you'll understand what I'm talking about here in a minute but we have the New Testament Challenge which is really kind of a triple down on the first month because it's about 45 minutes worth of reading for most the most average reader but that's for one month not for the whole year and the average Christian should probably read the Bible cover to cover once every year so if you haven't read the Bible cover to cover one time and you've been a Christian for a long time you should probably at least make that your goal for the new year. Now I realize that not everybody is going to accept this challenge today but maybe you could be just challenged in one area of your life maybe you are just lacking in one area of your life as a Christian you need to take and apply some of this sermon to your life I'm not saying that everybody can do this challenge or everybody can do all of this challenge but I would I would just hope that you'll be inspired to take on something that I'm applying this morning so look down at your Bible at verse number 12 the Bible says verily verily I say unto you he that believeth on me the works that I do shall he do also so of course the Lord Jesus Christ and whoever believes on him is saved right so he's saying save people the works that he does we will do also right and he says and greater works than these shall he do so Jesus did some really great works while he was here on earth didn't he but he says greater works than these shall he do so it's it's kind of an expectation of Jesus Christ that we're going to actually do greater works than him how is that possible nobody can do the works that Jesus did but that's not what he's saying is it he's saying we could do greater works so greater and what greater in number because Jesus his ministry was only you know two three years and we can in the lifetime of service do more things than he did get more people than him saved you know we can have exponential growth that he didn't have because he was only here for a certain amount of time and so his plan was to go to heaven send the comforter the Holy Spirit to us so that there could be some growth that wouldn't have hit except for he had gone to heaven to send the comforter so that that mass evangelism could happen the way that he had planned it to happen because look what it says because I go unto my father Jesus's plan was always to go back to his father and to prepare that place for us to intercede for us on you know our behalf to the father it says and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do it's an interesting statement isn't it whatsoever doesn't that mean like anything whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do when we pray to the father in Jesus name he says he's going to do that and it says that the father may be glorified in the son it's not for our glory it's for the father's glorification through the son of God and it says if he shall ask anything in my name I won't do it is that what it says no it says I will do it if you love me keep my suggestions is that what it says no it says if you love me keep my commandments oh I no we could just we have we're free in Christ we can just do whatever we want no he has commandments that he wants us to keep and he says if you love me you're going to do these things what's he wants to do he wants us to do works he wants us to do works it's not like we just you know we could just do whatever we want and there's no you know and there's no ramifications for us not doing just sitting around doing nothing waiting for him to come back and just sitting on our laurels or we had a good soul winning year like four years ago and now I'm just going to sit back and coast or I read my bible cover to cover one time now I'm never going to read it again or you know I used to go slowly now you know it's just really not that that big of a thing no he wants us to continue to serve him all the days of our life that we possibly can he says and I will pray the father and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you forever even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive so we get a gift that the world cannot receive if you're saved you have something different than everybody else in the world has those people that are not saved they don't have something we have we have the comforter we have the holy spirit and it says because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you we have a very powerful ally in the fact that we have god in us the hope of glory we have the holy spirit and therefore because we believe in jesus and he's given us the holy spirit we can do greater works because we have the power of god in our life the power of god in us to do these works what was the purpose of the of the day of pentecost that the holy spirit would come down and empower the believers to do the work that he requires us and asks us to do amen whatsoever you shall do in my name or ask in my name that will i do he that believeth on me the works that i shall do he shall do also he shall do also so we can do greater works jesus said it so it must be true right but are we doing greater works are you doing greater works are you doing any works what's the goal what is the goal here do you even have goals that's a good question to ask yourself you may not have goals but i'll tell you what god has goals for you you know companies have goals to meet certain quotas in a quarter or whatever well god has goals for you he doesn't expect you to get it all in the first year or even the second year or the fifth year but he does expect you to start getting things he expects you to start doing things he expects you to start understanding things and he expects us to start obeying him and he is the boss so if we're talking about a corporate headquarters god's the the ceo and he's the boss and yeah if we don't serve him you know well what happens does he fire us i mean he could you know if the salt has lost its savor wherewith shall it be salted it is it is good for nothing but the dung heap right so i mean that sounds pretty harsh but like if a christian's not doing anything for for god then what good is he you know that's what that's what that verse is talking about you say you love him but what's it he says if you love me you do what keep his commandments the bible also says his commandments are not grievous unto us it's not they're not like oh i gotta go to church again because someone again gotta read my bible again i gotta hear preaching again i gotta hear pastor thompson again but do you actually care what he wants that's a good question to ask yourself do you care what he wants turn to philippians chapter three philippians chapter three and what am i talking about well doubling down in 2025 look this is you know the 2025 i'm gonna be 50 in like three weeks a little a little bit more than three weeks in 2000 i was 25 it's easy for me to remember so if you make 2025 the year that you did the most you ever did for god that's an easy year to remember that you did the most you know i remember 2000 like it was yesterday i got saved that year but i didn't get saved in january but that led to me getting saved that that month and i was listening to art bell and all this weird stuff on the radio i was already kind of uh what what do you call it uh a truther before 9 11 even happened i was already into all this you know weird stuff or whatever but you know not all conspiracies theories are weird but some of them are but i remember going to downtown portland at pioneer square when the bells you know when when the when the you know when january first hit and everybody was expecting you know this mass chaos to happen or whatever right all the computers were going to crash we're all gonna die you know but guess what we didn't all die nothing happened everything kept going like it like it was supposed to you know it wasn't a big deal they were doing all these weird illuminati things on the news george bush was they had this big capstone where they put the capstone on the pyramid of giza i can't find that footage anywhere but i know that i watched it they were like did this new list and it was like some symbolic thing i don't know but i know george bush was involved in it i knew he was evil so i voted against him i voted for al gore god help me and you know he was just as evil if not more but anyway i don't know if it's possible to be more evil than him but anyway i'm not talking politics up here but um i guess i am but anyway let's uh let's look at philippines chapter three but my my point of saying that though is just that i remember it why because it was the millennial changing of the calendar the millennial changing and i remember counting down you know to the millennium changing from 1999 to 2000 like it was yesterday i was 25 years old in july that year i got saved i went to four different funerals between january and july that had a big impact in my life i ended up getting saved a month after my best friend got killed fighting my brother drunk in the streets and that had a big impact in my life and i didn't i was confused didn't understand i had all i was working for an all-jehovah's witness roofing company my wife had who wasn't my wife at that time had given me all these comics that were like chick comics you know but one of them was about the bible and it explained why all the the new bible versions were wrong and why the king james was right so i didn't get saved reading it or anything so don't think i'm some kind of a heretic or something because it's a comic but but it did convince me that the king james was right before i even got saved crazy right but those things like prepped me for the the time i had someone go through the king james show me the the salvation verses i prayed and trusted christ that year and then here i am 25 years later still serving god never thought i'd be a pastor here i am my wife said you know we were broken up at that time it took me four months to lead her to christ and she kept kicking me out of her house and which we're boyfriend and girlfriend but we're broke up and uh she said i wouldn't even take you back if you were a preacher yeah you will here we are she's still with me stuck anyway but uh yeah she i preached to her and she she ended up getting saved so anyway uh so what i'm saying is that you can remember this year why not make this the year that you do the most you've ever done for god because that's kind of a goal that i have set my heart and look we don't know what a day is going to bring forth we don't know whether we can do that or not but we can try can't we like we thought i thought ax what was it ax 2020 when in 2020 was like yeah we're gonna do them i got up and preach this sermon well it's ax 2020 year we could do the most we've so many we've ever done and what happened everything got shut down so i'm not getting up here saying it can happen for sure but why can't we try to do the most we've ever done to double down everything that we do in our lives and make it count for christ polypians 3 12 says not as though i had already attained either either were already perfect so paul's saying i wasn't already perfect i hadn't already attained this but i follow after if that i may apprehend that for which also i am apprehended of christ jesus so apprehend means to grab a hold of or grasp brethren i count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing i do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before so he's saying hey forget about what happened last year forget about what happened before i'm gonna move forward with my life say paul never moved forward from the fact that he hunted christians down and made them recant their faith and tortured and beat them and whatever else he did maybe he never moved on from that he just lived in his guilt for the rest of his life do you think he would be the great apostle paul no he just moved forward and lived his life the best he could and you know what he he had a pretty good life he wrote half the new testament he's probably known as the greatest christian that ever lived besides of course the lord jesus christ himself and he did he's written a lot of great things for us of course we're reading something he wrote right here but he's saying hey forget that stuff before don't rest on your laurels even would be a good application to it don't rest on hey that one year oh two thousand was such a great year i don't want to rest on two thousand i didn't do that great it works in two thousand i got saved but you know i've had some pretty good years so winning but i don't want to just say oh yeah that one year when i was so winning that was the best year i've ever had i want to just keep doing more and reaching forth and doing the best i can and not just resting on things i've already done says and reaching forth under those things which are before it says i press toward the mark press indicates pressure you know when you have a full court press that's when all five guys on the team are pressuring guys to turn the ball over so they can score and come back in a game paul says i press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of god in christ jesus paul was just constantly pressing to do more to do better to win the prize what's the prize finishing perfection what did he say i'd already attained or either were already perfect he's a he's trying to attain perfection that's not what moonwalking on water it's not you know being sinless that's not the perfection he's talking about doing the being the most the best he can as a christian the most well-rounded you can be as a christian because we can't be sinlessly perfect on this earth it's just impossible at this time but we can do the we could try to be the best that we can be we can try to live as excellently as a christian that we can it says let as many as be perfect be thus minded and if anything you be otherwise minded god shall reveal even this unto you nevertheless where unto we have already attained let us walk by the same rule let us mind the same thing brethren be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as you have us for an ensemble he's saying hey you know if you're trying to be perfect or if you already all are perfect hey mind the same rule let's have the same mind but he's saying brethren be followers together of me what's he saying follow a man you know how many people say i don't follow a man i follow jesus well paul's saying follow me but in in first corinthians 11 he says follow me as i follow christ there's nothing wrong with following a man as long as he's following christ but he says mark them which walk so as you have us for an ensemble so this is a good kind of marking mark the people that you can follow that are setting a good example but you don't have to fall when people fall but there are good people that you can say hey i want to follow their works i want to follow after what they're following it says for many walk of whom i have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of christ whose end is destruction whose god is their belly and whose glory is in their shame who mind earthly things look there's you know i've had many people recently just tell me and actually i've heard this from many concerned men lately that even in churches as conservative as ours the men are being led by their women and that's a shame that should not be said among christians among baptists of course we love women i'm married to one that i love very much and i i value her input in my life but she does not lead me she does not write my sermons for me she does not tell me what to do when the main decision has to be made i make that decision when someone asks her hey do you want to do this this and this she's like well i gotta ask my husband there's nothing wrong with that that's how the bible sets things up but i'm not saying mistreat your wife or mistreat women i'm just saying that men need to lead their wives and there's nothing in the world wrong with that and look feminism is brainwashing even christians get that mind take that get that mind out of here that's earthly things that's minding earthly things and that is the enemy of christ but there's also this mindset of minding earthly things that gets christians out of church that gets christians off the things of god paul saying hey look unto me or look into other godly people as an example or an example or an example in your life to follow and quit following the example of ungodly people look unto jesus the author and finisher of our faith he's a pretty good example isn't he so paul's saying hey for many of whom i have told you often and i'll tell you even weeping that they're the enemies of the cross and look you can be saved and be an enemy of the cross because of your wicked works because of you being saved and and not walking according to the truth who's and again can god destroy a person who's saved yes he can and he will because if you're just minding earthly things and not caring what god destroy will destroy righteous people if they're he'll punish them and they'll try to correct them and bring them back i'm not saying he's just going to destroy them outright and never give them a chance to come back i'm not saying that but people have been telling me and i just heard this last night that it's it's people going worldly that it's a problem i've heard this from more than one person i've heard this whole thing about women leading men in from people that go to churches like ours that it's a problem in our churches why how is that possible after all the things that we preach all these years how is that even possible it's because we let the mindset grow and somewhere some man just stopped he just gave up and then it becomes a scourge and we should not let that happen turn to second king chapter 3 verse 14 of course i'm not necessarily preaching i'm just saying how do we get away from that how do we press forward how do we press toward the mark of the high calling how do we set those things behind and reach forth well we follow the right example we follow the right in sample we find someone hey this person's doing a pretty good job maybe i should be friends with them maybe i should see how they're doing things maybe i should look at their example second king chapter 13 verse 14 says now elisha was fallen sick of his sickness where if he died and joash the king of israel came down unto him and wept and wept over his face and said oh my father my father the chariot of israel and the horsemen thereof and elijah said unto him take bow and arrows and he took bow and he took unto him bow and arrows and he said to the king of israel put thine hand upon the bow and he put his hand upon it and elijah put his hand hands upon the king's hands and he said open the window eastward and he opened it then elijah said shoot and he shot and he said the arrow of the lord's deliverance and the arrow of the deliverance of syria what is he saying he's put his hands upon him he's he's had him grab a bow and arrows and then he says these words to him the arrow of the lord's deliverance and the arrow of deliverance from syria what's he saying he's saying this is what this is representing and then he says for thou shalt smite the syrians in afic till thou has consumed them he's telling him he's pre-telling him what what this is representing and he said take the arrows and he took them and he said unto the king of israel smite upon the ground and he smote thrice and the man of god was wroth with him he's like why is he mad he smoked he did he did what he said and he said thou should have spent five or six times then hadst thou smitten syria till thou hadst consumed it whereas now thou shalt smite syria but thrice why is he upset because he should have doubled it up that's why and elijah is like hey you know and this is the last thing he does before he dies he's trying to give deliverance to god's people and he's just saying you know what what all the king had to do he's he's giving him the deliverance he just all he did is just put his hands on what what does the king have to do just do it three more times and they would have just smoked all the syrians and won the victory but he's so lazy and so apathetic that all he does is does it three times and elijah knows something about doubling things up doesn't he get a double portion of god's spirit or the spirit of elijah or elijah excuse me and all he had to do is ask for it and all he does is just ask the king of israel to just do this one thing and he just does it all willy nilly three times you're like well how is he supposed to know well have a little bit of you know of care for other people you're the king for crying out loud have a little discernment learn to read the room as people say right he's saying you could have done more and so what's the sermon about double doubling down doing more than you've done before all he had to do is smack it more times but his attitude was the attitude of many christians today you hear it and you don't apply it you hear it and you ignore it you forget everything that you heard and go home eat your cheese sandwich and forget about what was said turn to jeremiah chapter 12 verse 5 jeremiah chapter 12 verse 5 this is a great scripture here and it helps put things in perspective for us because a lot of people are like well you know when the hard times hit i'm going to be in the front lines but they won't even be in the front line at church they won't go so many now but they think they're going to do it later they don't read their bible now but they're going to do it suddenly when times are harder it says if thou hast run with the footmen verse 5 and they have wearied thee then how canst thou contend with horses there's literally people that race horses over long distances and beat them they contend with horses you can't no man can can race a horse across a field and hope to win unless the horse has like three legs and even then they probably wouldn't beat them but over a distance men can pace themselves and beat a horse over a distance but how do you think that if you can't even beat a another man in a race how can you this what the bible's saying how can you contend with horses how do you think you're going to beat a horse if you can't even be another man and if in the land of peace wherein thou trustest you know when things are good things are easy and they wearied thee then how what thou do in the swelling of jordan when the jordan river is overflowing its banks and you're trying to cross you know it's easy in the summertime when it's all dried out to cross the river isn't it but when it's raging like you know the columbia river over there when it's swelled up in the in the springtime it's a little it's a little bit scarier to swim across that than it is in the dead of the summer isn't it so what's he saying hey when it's hard that's you think you're going to do when you won't do something when it's easy how are you thinking you're going to do something when it's really hard when things are against the law for christians to do you think you're going to be just super christian when that happens when you're when you're the most apathetic christian that there is right now that's just not how things go so if you don't go soul winning now when it's easy but in the tribulation you're going to be some soul winning machine that's just not reasonable to think if you don't read your bible now but in the end times you're going to just teach all these people the truth about revelation because you watch after the tribulation and the revelation series 50 times that's just not going to happen if you don't go to church on a regular basis when it's perfectly legal and fine to do but you know when it's against the law you're going to be in the underground church or whatever you're fooling yourself you know you're gonna be like oh you know i'm gonna fight as hard as i did when the mat when we had to wear the masks that's not the same thing folks i mean it's just not you don't pray now but you know you're gonna be like david and daniel and pray three times a day in front of everybody when it's against the law no you're not you're not going to pray at all if you think someone's going to see you and catch you so i talked to a guy right recently and he was just the re the the the reason why i'm preaching this sermon that kind of got a little inspiration from someone that received a lot of persecution this year and it kind of kind of the conversation i had with this person really just inspired me to preach this because the attitude that was displayed was like instead of just getting backslidden instead of just giving up instead of just saying you know what i'm just going to quit i'm going to scale back i'm going to do less instead their attitude is like you know what i'm going to double down on bible reading i'm going to double down on soul winning i'm going to do my personal best i ever have and tried to win the most souls i ever have i'm going to i'm going to you know have my best church attendance i'm going to do more missions trips i'm going to have more prayer time that's that was the person's attitude i'm going to double everything and i thought wow how inspiring is that after so after going through so much in their life last year that this year their plan is to do more than they ever have and i thought you know what that's inspiring and you know what it rubbed off on me and i wanted to just you know give that message to you guys this morning and just say hey you know we can have that attitude and we haven't even gone nearly through as much as this person has and you know what i want to you know i want to take on a little bit of that fire and and and impart that upon you this morning so what about bible reading well i talked a lot about the challenge this morning but what if you did double your bible reading this morning what would that look like to you are you reading the bible at all are you reading it once a week or you're just like opening up your bible and you're like he is ever merciful and wendith and he his seed is blessed and you're like oh got my scripture reading for the day which is good that you actually read something but it's it's god wants you to read the bible every word is is perfect every word is needed for us and he wants us to read the whole thing but what would that look like if we double down what would that look like if you read the bible twice you know if you read the bible once it's 15 minutes a day if you read the bible twice that's 30 minutes a day i mean but what if you just read did the bible challenge for the new testament i mean that's a great accomplishment if you haven't read the bible once cover to cover and i'm not saying you have to double all your bible reading if you're already reading in 15 minutes but what if you did what about so many that you go once a week maybe and what if you can't go twice a week i understand that but what if you did what if you could what if you could make the time you said instead of going once a week i'm going to try to go twice a week 52 weeks this year and what is that going to do well maybe you'll get twice as many people saved i mean if you're already getting a certain amount saved or maybe you haven't hardly opened your bible this year last year or whatever and you know it was only on missions trips that you got people whatever but listen i'll just tell you this little secret that's actually really true the more you go the more people are gonna get saved it's actually true so if you're just going you know once a week and that's that's perfectly fine like i think you're right with god if you're doing once a week i'm not saying that you're not but if you're not going at all then i would just encourage you to get started going soul winning it's really not that scary and and and look is it work yes it's work especially here because it's not super receptive here but you know maybe you had your year where you did your personal best i don't know how many people keep track of how many you got that year how many salvations you got that year but maybe this year could be the year that you say this year i'm going to try to beat my personal best but to do that you have to do more soul winning or maybe go to more receptive areas at some point in the year to beat your personal best and it's like well what's the point to so i could have accolades no it's not so you could have accolades what jesus says so that your father the father can be glorified right but there's nothing wrong with having goals there's nothing wrong with trying to do the most you can what's wrong with that was it wrong for elijah to ask elijah uh he said what what do you want he's like i pray that you give me a double portion was it wrong for him to do that obviously not because god allowed him to have it right what about church attendance i mean we have a lot of satellite churches so there was a lot of times last year where i attended church four times a week and preached four sermons a week lots of times i'm not trying to brag you know it's it's hard but we do have the ability to if you're already going three times a week that you could go four times a week every once in a while and so you're increasing your church attendance you're like four times a week pastor what are you crazy yes i am i'm a baptist preacher a Baptist yeah i was already yeah so that is crazy but you know what's wrong with that or maybe you just go to a conference that helps you to go to church more whatever it is maybe you're not going to church enough and you just want to go a little bit more hey look you know step out by faith and just say hey i'm going to make it my mission to go to church more or to go on a missions trip maybe you've never even been on a missions trip just make this year that you go on one or maybe you do go on one every year try to go on two or maybe you're having trouble in your prayer life try to develop a prayer life just start a prayer life acknowledge god when you wake up in the morning set some alarms on your phone to acknowledge god and and make it a habit you know because duty and habit you know are what god wants but you know as you develop those duty and habits it becomes enjoyable and joyful for you in the christian life so maybe you're not praying enough and you want to increase that prayer double down on your prayer life you know you can do that look back at look at john chapter three john chapter three and why do i bring up all those things because i think that those are the things that are going to perfect your faith soul winning bible reading prayer time those church attendance those are the four building blocks of the christian faith and you want to throw in hymns psalms spiritual songs being filled with the spirit getting sin out of your life those are very important john 3 6 says that which is born of the flesh is flesh that which is born of the spirit is spirit marvel not that i say said unto thee you must be born again the wind bloweth where it listeth thou hearest the sound there thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth so is everyone that is born of the spirit jesus is trying to explain to nickademus here what you know what is salvation like well it's not something that you can see you know you cannot see the spirit of god you can't when the when the wind blows you don't see the wind do you you just see the effects of the wind but you don't see the wind you don't you don't know where it came from you know when the wind blows you you don't really generally see you don't see oh there's where the wind came from you just kind of know because of which way things are moving right and you don't know where it's going where's it ending where's this wind heading but it says so is everyone that's born of the spirit the spirit of god is in us but we can't see the spirit of god you can't look in the mirror and go hey there's the spirit of god you can't see it can you and but he came to abide in us forever but we didn't see it happen when i got saved it's not like the the clouds opened up and i saw the spirit of god descending on me like a dove i didn't see that g you know john saw it when jesus got saved or i mean not saved but when jesus got the spirit of god excuse me jesus was already saved but we're saved but people can't just look at us and physically see it i mean you can tell that people are saved by being around them sometimes but i can't just look at someone and go that person's saved like there's no like golden aura that comes across them there's no halo that appears over their head that forms over their head or anything white robes don't just manifest over us when people get saved it'd be nice you know to have like some little button or you know some dot or something that forms on them that we just know that person's saved somehow so jesus is saying you don't you can't see it but it this is what this is what it's like when people are born again you don't see it it's not an out it's not an outward manifestation so but what if we tapped more into the power of the spirit of god that's in us could we do more of course we could could we double down could we do great great and greater things for god could we do that i think we could can we access the holy spirit more than we do now i mean just think about that question can we access more power of god if so then why don't we these are questions i'm asking myself when i'm writing this sermon i'm just like why don't we do that now jesus is saying these words in john chapter 14 it's like why don't we do it though when he says if you have faith as the grain of a mustard seed you can say to this mountain be thou removed and cast it in the sea but nobody does it obviously we don't have that much faith do we but we could access more if we wanted to we're commanded to be filled with the spirit and if you go ahead and turn to romans 814 ephesians 5 18 says and be not drunk with wine wherein is excess but be filled with the spirit we are commanded to be filled with the spirit so what does that mean we're not always filled with the spirit we have the spirit but we're not always filled with the spirit it says speaking to yourself in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your heart to yourself to the church no it's to the lord we're supposed to be singing to the lord and that is like an activity we can do that will help fill us with the spirit romans 814 says for as many as are led by the spirit of god they are the sons of god how do we know we are children of god well we're led by the spirit at some point we are led by the spirit turn to ephesians 4 22. ephesians 4 22 says that you put off concerning the former conversation that conversation is not talking about just the things you talk about but it's talking about the life style in which you live it can talk about things you're talking about but it's how you live your life the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust and be renewed in the spirit of your mind that you put on the new man which after god is created in righteousness and true holiness so some is is the old man something we can put off yes and can we put on the renewed mind yes we can put on the new man so there's a battle that goes on in our in our daily lives there's the old man and there's the new man and we have to put off that old man and we have to put on that new man this is a daily thing take up our cross daily and follow after jesus right and go ahead and turn to galatians chapter 5 verse 16 i'm going to read second corinthians chapter 5 17 second corinthians 5 17 says therefore if any man be in christ he is a new creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new people will misuse that verse and they'll say well hey if you're in christ that means you're automatically just going to do all these things and that's how you know that you're saved well the new man is something that god gives you that's your spirit is quickened and the whole and you know god gives you the holy ghost that is something that that part of you saved but the old man still resides within you your flesh is not is not able to be fixed until jesus christ comes and gives us our glorified bodies so we still have the old man to contend with the lust that we had the former lust are still present within us and we have to fight against this look at galatians 5 16. see some people think that we could just be sinlessly perfect but that's just not true look what it says galatians 5 16 it says this i say then walk in the spirit why would we have to walk in the spirit if we could just be permanently fixed when we're saved just walk in the spirit and he shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh see we still have the lust of the flesh in our life but we have to walk in the spirit in order to avoid it for the flesh lusteth against the spirit see there's a battle going on and the and the spirit against the flesh these are contrary the one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would see there's a lot of things that we want to do like doubling our works and doing all these great things but sometimes that flesh hinders us and so getting rid of the sin in our life is part of being able to do these great works that i'm talking about and and maybe doubling down in this next year or doing more than we normally do galatians 5 18 says but if you be led by the spirit you're not under the law so we can be led by the spirit we can be filled with the spirit but we actually have to want to do that we actually have to work to do that you know we have to ask for those things look at actually yeah let's look at second kings chapter two verse nine and this is elijah's big ask i've been kind of alluding to this but let's just look at what the bible says here second kings chapter two nine and so why could elijah on his deathbed say you should have done double why does he say that well because he's the kind of man that does double he asks for double he gets double he does double if you look at all the miracles that he did he did exactly double all the miracles that elijah did what's he say here what's it saying second kings two nine this is when elijah is about to go up in the whirlwind it says and it came to pass when they were gone over that elijah said unto elijah ask what i shall do for thee before i be taken away from thee and elijah said i pray thee let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me and he said that was asked a hard thing nevertheless if thou see me when i am taken from thee it shall be so unto thee but if not it shall not be so and it came to pass as they still went on and talked that behold there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire and parted them both asunder and elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven and what's it say the next the next four words there and elijah saw it so what does that mean that what he asked for is going to come to pass and he cried my father my father the chariot of israel and the horseman thereof and he saw him no more and he took hold of his own clothes and rent them in two pieces so he received the double portion because he saw just like elijah said and maybe we just never get the things that we want or the great spiritual works that we want to do because we just never ask didn't elijah say tell me what you want isn't that what he said what did he say ask what i shall do for thee isn't that that's praying i pray thee ask just ask me ask me what i shall do and he said i pray thee i'm asking you here's what i want to ask let a double portion of my spirit come upon me and a lot of times go ahead and turn to james chapter 4 a lot of times we don't get what we what we want because we don't ask for it like our kids are pretty good at asking us for stuff aren't they to an over overboard extent sometimes just quit asking me for stuff but god doesn't do that unless it's like it's you know something we shouldn't be asking for but you know there's a parable where the inopportune neighbor or whatever is coming over at midnight asking for stuff because he needs some flour or something you know have you ever had that neighbor that's like hey you got a cup of sugar or you know they just keep asking you for stuff all the time it's like just quit asking me for stuff you know but god's not like that he'll actually just say okay well here i'm gonna give it to you but look at james 4 2 it says you lust and you have not you kill you desire to have and cannot obtain you fight in war yet you have not because you ask not see elijah asked him what do you want and he said well here's what i want but god's saying you have not because you ask not see as christians like it would it be nice to pray more because when you pray more you ask for things don't you and if he's our father he's going to give us the things that we ask for so if you want to do more works in the new year wouldn't it make sense to ask him to to to to get rid of the impediments in our life that are stopping us and holding us back from being able to do those things it says he asked and received not because you ask him this that you may consume it upon your lust see a lot of people ask for things that they shouldn't be asking for and then you ask that's asking a miss says the adulterers and adulterers says no you're not that the friendship of the world is enmity with god whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of god don't ask for things that you're going to consume upon your lust and that are worldly because god's not going to grant those things i want a new lamborghini that's a stupid thing to ask for you're going to kill yourself you're gonna you know you'll shoot your eye out kid you know well pastor i you know some people would be like well pastor i just don't think i'm good enough to do these great things these are great men in the bible that you're bringing up so but what's that got to do with anything i don't think i'm good enough pastor don't be so self-deprecating because god loves us he wouldn't have died for the whole world if he didn't want to save each and every individual listen nobody's good enough nobody's good enough i'm not good enough you're not good enough nobody is good enough but that is beside the point the point is he wants us to ask him for stuff and if we want to do greater spiritual works in the new year then we need to ask him to get rid of the things that are blocking us from being able to do that because i'm sure everybody's thought well i'd like to do this but i just don't have enough money or whatever whatever the issue is hey we have we serve a big god and he can he can get a lot of these roadblocks out of the way james 5 17 says elias which is talking about elijah was a man's subject you can turn there because you're already in james 4 elias was a man's subject to like passions as we are in other words he was a man that puts his pants on one leg at a time just like everybody else and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months what's what's god saying here elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are he's just he's just a regular man just like everybody else except for he earnestly prayed see sometimes we pray for things that don't really mean them but we need to you know the earnest prayer of a righteous man availeth much right elijah was a man of like passions what made him so great he actually did stuff he actually put his prayer in action he asked in faith it's not some mega mystery that we need to solve just ask right maybe you're not asking for the right things elijah doubled down the son of shafat asked for the right things didn't he he doubled down he's like i want double give me a mcdouble i don't want to make single i want a mcdouble you know i'm going to give you right now the answer to the mystery to your double works to do more this year lord willing than you ever have look at luke chapter 11 luke chapter 11 here's the mystery i'm going to reveal it to you it's really super it's just it's been there the whole time i'm unlocking this mystery for you right now luke chapter 11 verse 9 it says i've already told it to you once but i'm going to tell it to you again i've told it to you twice it says and i say unto you what does it say there ask and it shall be given you seek and you shall find knock and it shall be open unto you for everyone that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened if a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father will he give him a stone or if he ask a fish will he for a fish give him a scorp a serpent or if he shall ask an egg will he offer him a scorpion if he then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children how much more shall your heavenly father give the holy spirit to them that ask him so can we ask for more holy spirit can we ask for more power can we ask for more help yes what's he say you have to do you just have to ask i'm going to give it to you it's not rocket science it's not the mysteries encoded in the bible that you have to figure out it's just a real simple thing just ask i don't have time to do nine chapters a day pastor thompson ask ask god for more just how about this just make more time just get up earlier that's actually a pretty easy one right there i'm not brave enough to go so wanting pastor thompson ask for boldness i don't have the money to go on even one mission trip pastor thompson ask god he owns the cattle on a thousand hills everything under heaven is his do you think it's going to be hard for him to make it happen for you just ask i can't go to church two or three times a week pastor i work on thursdays and sunday nights or i work on these different days ask anytime i've ever had a job that would make me miss a church service i've always just prayed to god and he made my schedule change almost immediately but you have to really want it it has to be true you know if you really don't want it he knows that but he's not stupid he knows more than you he knows what your heart really has in mind i don't have time to increase my prayer life that's a dumb thing to say ask i've been trying to get this certain sin out of my life i can't do what i've tried ask for help just ask you're like well i've done that i've already asked keep asking yeah keep knocking the opportune neighbor because above this in luke chapter 11 is where he tells that story he's like okay he's finally going to give you the sugar he's finally going to give you okay here's the flower all right well maybe he knows you don't really want to get it out of your life you're just saying it turn to hebrews chapter 12 why am i bringing up to getting the sin out of your life because it's a hindrance it's a hindrance to wanting to do more because it holds you back it makes you feel guilty you're like always trying to make deals make making deals with god he was chapter 12 verse 1 he was chapter 12 verse 1 wherefore seen we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us and let us run the race let's yeah let us run with patience excuse me the race that is set before us look every christian when we got into when we got saved we entered into a race we didn't realize it but it is a race and it's a race of endurance see it's with patience it's not a sprint it's not a roman candle christian sprint where we go to church for six months and then we quit because it was too hard it's a patience race it's a pacing yourself when you when i the first time i ever ran the mile when i was a kid the the teachers would tell us you know the p.e coach he was like hey you got to pace yourself you can't just sprint this out because everybody that tried to sprint it out just quit they're puking you know you have to learn to pace yourself and not just sprint it's not a sprint the christian life is not a sprint you know and what i'm asking this morning is is kind of for a sprint and not everybody's gonna be able to do it but it's a sprint that you do for a while but then i'm not saying do this every year i'm not saying do this the whole your whole christian life and if you feel yourself burning out well draw back a little bit i'm not saying to do this all the time this is something that you do from time to time in the quarter century mark you know 2025 you know so you remember it right and if you can't do it you can't do it i'm not like trying to make you feel bad if you don't i'm just trying to inspire you to do more but you see how it says let us lay aside every weight you know if you're overweight it's hard to run isn't it if you have weight it's hard to run that race if you have sin that easily besets you it holds you back it it sidelines you and so it says run the race with patience so he's saying get rid of that stuff get rid of the stuff that's holding you back it's not always just sin it could be just entanglements things that are are holding you back from serving god the best to the best of your ability then it says what looking unto jesus have something to focus on when you're when you're exercising when you're running when you're just doing any kind of exercise it's nice to have something to focus on so that you're not bored because you can't get bored when you're exercising it's like you're a gerbil or something the you know it says looking unto jesus the author and finish of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross you know exercising is hard and it and it puts a big strain on you it says despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of god jesus finished his race then he finished what he in his race was hard it caused his death but at the end he finished and he got the prize he he is his name is the greatest name given among men we have to call upon that name to be saved he inherits all the blessings of god and we inherit with him because of what he did for us and so you know when we want to look at something we want to have an example to look towards hey let's let's put aside all these other things and just focus on him and focus on that race and that's a good example to look at and when you get rid of that weight that sin it's kind of like this is kind of like being compared to like diet and exercise and people like take all these uh what does that do uh weight loss diet stuff oh oh oh exam prick or what yeah you know they have all these different weight loss pills and all this different these different programs to do and eat these special diets and stuff but you know in reality diet and exercise are what help you lose weight it's just a fact okay cutting out the calories and doing exercise a caloric deficit and exercise are what help you lose weight and so essentially this is kind of what this passage is teaching you know it's to cut the stuff out that you don't need so that you can run more efficiently so you can do get the exercise to finish because if you have all these things weighing you down and all these sins in your life then you're not going to be able to finish the race as easily can fatty still run the race yeah can fatty still finish the race yeah but you just might not finish as well or finish as quickly or as efficiently as other people so and look if you're a fatty like me then you know don't be offended i'm fat too so but does that mean you're it's the the unforgivable sin like a lot of people want to claim it is it's not you know obviously being healthy is a good thing um but i'm just trying to to make a point here though that you know being fat makes it tough to run the race okay and i'm talking about the spiritual race i'm comparing these things right so how do you gain weight well overeating lack of exercise how do you commit sin you make provision for those things that's what the bible says right turn to romans chapter 13 romans chapter 13 getting close to wrapping up here folks stick with me for just a few more minutes here romans 13 11 says and that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep this is a call to christians to wake out of sleep some people are asleep they're coasting they're they're drifting off they're not they're not in the fight anymore they're not in the race it says for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed every day we're getting closer to christ coming back right the night is far spent the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness you see how he's he's he's saying kind of the same thing cast off those works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envying but put ye on the lord jesus christ and make not provision for the flesh to what fulfill the lust thereof provision what do you give animals provender like you feed them food so like when we make provision for the flesh we're putting ourselves into position to where we're going to consume those things and fulfill that lust so what are we supposed to do put on the lord jesus christ put on the new man put on the lord jesus christ what does jesus say about himself his yoke is easy and his burden is light what does that mean well yoke is a thing that you put over animals that pull things right and he says like one when you have me next to you pulling things that his yoke is easy his burden is light so like a burden is something that you'd be lifting that's really heavy right when you're if you're lifting weights super heavy when you have him helping you that burden is really light so when you have the lord jesus christ helping you get sin out of your life and setting aside those weights setting aside that darkness putting off that darkness it's a lot easier with his help isn't it it's a lot easier with the holy spirit's help the world doesn't have that help we have that help and we should act accordingly so and the bible says when when when those when sin is finished it brings forth death so maybe we need to just quit holding ourselves back with all the reasons and excuses and the weights and let the spirit lead us in our lives and put on the new man run with patience that you may obtain and like getting rid of all that stuff you know it's easier said than done but it's something that we you know that goes along with you know put trying to get those works done it's a lot easier when god you allow god to prune those things out of your life like it says in john chapter 15 when you push yourself on some of those laps that's how you achieve the most to win the race obviously you know to win god's race is to simply finish the christian life it's just to finish well right and not to quit and not to leave the christian life and just do whatever you want to do but it's to finish but from time to time it's good to push ourselves like you've never done before and get some extra rewards because we do get rewards for the things that we do we get rewards and some people are going to be up there with tons of rewards in heaven and some people are not some people are just going to be there but that's okay at least they're there that's the baseline reward eternal life right so when you're busy running here's the other good thing about it when you're busy running you don't have time to get into all that trouble so when you're busy working all that extra work you know if you're so busy serving the lord and doing great things for god you don't have time to sin if you're in church more less time to sin who sins while they're at church really i mean you're probably less likely to sin when you're at church all day on a sunday than you are sitting at home watching football or whatever you're doing you ever notice that when you're working out that you know you don't want to you know you don't want to do other stuff you know i well i don't like when people talk to me i hate when people talk to me if i'm working out i just just want to tune everything out and i i sometimes i even hate listening to stuff when i'm working out sometimes i just want to focus on my thoughts because i've i miss out on things i'm thinking about things when i'm listening to something i know everybody's different but i i'll listen to a podcast or listen to preaching or whatever sometimes i zone out when i'm listening to it because it just i can't focus that well on it but when you're busy for the lord it's the same thing you kind of tune all that stuff out so this it's kind of a good passage hebrews 12 for those types of things but you know maybe this isn't your year to double down in all these categories maybe you're hindered by physical ailments or sickness or whatever but what about just like one or two how about the ones you're seriously just lacking in maybe you're just lacking in one area maybe you're just out of balance in one you know i like i said i just want to inspire you for this quarter century mark i thought thought it was you know it's not the quarter century mark every year it just comes around once every 25 years so an easy year to remember for sure so maybe this could be the year that you read the most bible you've ever read or the attended the most church you ever did or got the most soul wanting you ever did or most personal salvations you ever had or most prayer time you've ever done or the most mission strips you ever been on or the most sin you ever got out of your life this could be the year and you know it's a good those are good goals to have this could be the year that you finally got blank sin out of your life whatever that sin that you're thinking about right now that you've struggled with for a long time you know because let's just face it as a christian you know as you grow in your life you're going to get sin out of your life but maybe there's just one that has a stronghold over you that you just haven't been able to get out of your life well maybe this is the year that you're going to get out of your life for good and it's never coming back again god can give you that victory but you know what do you got to do you got to ask maybe you're like pastor i'm really you know not doing anything right now i'm not doing any of the things that you mentioned in this sermon why not start today why not start this year do something for god and you got to start somewhere right let's go back to john 14 we'll be done john 14 i just want to kind of put this in your mind then we're done i promise we started here i want to end here john 14 12 i'll just start reading as you're turning there verily verily i say unto you he that believeth on me the works that i do shall he do also and greater works than these shall he do because i go unto my father and whatsoever you shall ask in my name that will i do that the father may be glorified in the son if you shall ask anything in my name i will do it if you love me keep my commandments let's pray lord we thank you so much for the bible we thank you lord for challenges that you put forth in your word i pray lord that you would help us lord to possibly make this the year that we do the most as a church we've ever done the most as individuals that we've ever done for you i pray lord that you put it in our heart to just make this the year that we have some of our personal best and lord if there's people here that maybe just aren't doing a whole lot that lord that they would say this is the year that i'm gonna start doing more for you lord pray lord that you would help me as a preacher to do the best i can be i can do as a pastor as a as a leader for this church i pray lord that you would help our people to be faithful and to love you lord and to care about the things of god and that lord you just lord elevate our church you build our church and that you see our love for you this year in jesus name we pray amen came upon the midnight clear song number 274 in your blue hymn books it came upon the midnight clear song two seven four it came upon the midnight clear song two seven four let's sing together on the first it came upon the midnight clear a glorious song of hope from angels bending near the earth to touch their harps of gold peace on the earth good will to men from heaven's gracious king king the word in solemn stillness lay to hear the angels sing still through the cloven skies they come with peaceful wings unfurled world and still their headly music floats for all the weary world above its sad and lowly plains they bend on hovering wings and ever o'er its babble sounds the blessed angels sing and ye beneath life's crushing load whose forms are bending low who toil along the climbing way with painful steps and slow look now for glad and golden hours come swiftly on the wing oh rest beside the weary road and hear the angels sing for lo the days are hastening on by prophet bard's foretold when with the ever circling years comes round the age of gold when peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendors fling and the whole world give back the song which now the angels sing amen good scene uh brother gabriel we close the war prayer